Most patients have lived their identity for years
Dr Helen Webberley on Robby Starbuck: transition and children, Robby Starbuck
Gender doctors just say yes to everyone. The assumption is that affirming care means automatic approval, that anyone who walks in asking for transition gets it, no questions asked, and that the whole process is a conveyor belt with no clinical judgement involved.
Every person I saw was different, and I treated them differently. Yes, there were people I asked to slow down, to explore further, to do a little more work before we made any decisions together. That is what good doctoring looks like. But here is the thing people miss: the vast majority of people who came to me were not having a sudden whim. They were transgender people who had known who they were for years, often decades, and had finally found a door that would open. The question was never whether to affirm blindly. The question was always what this particular person needed next.
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